NEWS + ANALYSIS

In early March, the Ukrainian government announced substantial gas price hikes for households and local, municipally owned heating companies. For families consuming large amounts of gas, the price per cubic meter may increase six-fold, with further increases planned for later this year and early next year.

With parliamentary elections coming up in April, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s center-right Fidesz party is leading in the polls. Yet the bold, Oxford-educated reformer of the late 1990s has become an outcast among Central European politicians, and for good reason. In the last four years, Mr. Orban’s government has overseen one of the most important economic and political backslides in post-Communist Europe.

For ordinary people of the Middle East and North Africa, the events of the Arab Spring were driven as much by a frustration at the lack of economic opportunity as they were a discontent with authoritarian, repressive regimes in the region. After all, the popular uprisings were triggered by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian fruit vendor who had been repeatedly harassed by local authorities. When he was prohibited by the officials to sell fruits and vegetables, with his goods confiscated, his life — and the lives of those who were dependent on him — were instantly ruined.